PN #68 - In repudiation of Bill 1904/24, which equates abortion with homicide
13 Jun 2024, 15:52
Rio de Janeiro (RJ) 08/03/2024 – A manifestação 8M reúne pessoas em luta por direitos femininos no Dia Internacional da Mulher, no Centro. Foto: Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil - Foto: Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil
The Arns Commission expresses its indignation at the decision of the Chamber of Deputies, approved yesterday, to fast-track the vote on Bill 1904/24, which equates abortion after 22 weeks of pregnancy with homicide.
It is perplexing to see the haste with which this parliamentary house intends to deal with a complex issue that touches on established rights, paving the way for the criminalization of women who resort to legal abortion - pregnant women whose lives are at risk, victims of rape, and pregnant women with anencephalic fetuses.
It is clear that this bill, if approved, will mainly affect women and girls who have been impregnated by rapists. For the latter, penalties of up to 8 years. For the former, penalties of up to 20 years, just like for murder, for abortions performed after 22 weeks of pregnancy – whereas the Brazilian Penal Code itself does not establish time limits for legal abortion.
It is an outrage against Brazilian women, especially adolescents, who constitute a significant part of the rape cases in the country. In addition, this law will specifically target poor women and girls, mostly black and living in the suburbs, who lack access to adequate means of terminating pregnancies. Such injustice cannot be tolerated!
We call on different sectors of civil society to take action to stop this obscurantist escalation as well as on lawmakers to reject a bill that tramples on rights, hurts women's dignity, humiliates citizens, and threatens our democracy.